The team's submission, "Distributed Immune Systems for Wireless Networks Information Assurance," is one of only 20 successful proposals the DoD selected for funding during fiscal year 2001. The team participated in a targeted competition in the Critical Infrastructure Protection and High Confidence, Adaptable Software (CIP/SW) Research Program of the URI BAA. The team will be working with the Army Research Office.

John Baras noted, "This is indeed great news and will allow us to work on the exciting ideas we put together for wireless information assurance." His assessment was shared by ISR Director Gary Rubloff, who said, "This is clearly a very timely topic. Its success will be a major contribution and very visible."

About the 2001 URI program The DoD awarded 20 grants totaling $9.3 million in fiscal 2001 to 16 academic institutions to conduct research in 13 topic areas. The URI program is designed to enhance universities' capabilities to perform science and engineering research and related education in science and engineering areas critical to national defense.

The targeted competition for both critical information protection (CIP) and high confidence, adaptable software is in addition to the fiscal 2001 URI competitions in the areas of multidisciplinary research, nanotechnology, and high-energy laser technology. Subject to the successful completion of negotiation between DoD and the academic institutions, the 20 awards will provide long-term support for research, graduate students, and the purchase of equipment supporting specific science and engineering research themes in the fields related to CIP and software.

The competition drew 115 white papers, from which 74 proposals were received. After a thorough evaluation by technical expert teams, 20 of these proposals were selected for funding. Department of Defense announcement